Licensing Requirements and Limitations for MLD Snooping
Involved Network Elements
- Multicast source
A device that sends multicast data to receiver hosts. For example, a video server is a multicast source.
- IPv6 Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) device
A device that uses the IPv6 PIM protocol to generate and maintain multicast routing entries and forwards multicast data based on multicast routing entries. On an IPv6 multicast network, all Layer 3 devices must run IPv6 PIM; otherwise, multicast forwarding paths cannot be established.
- MLD querier
A device that exchanges MLD messages with receiver hosts to create and maintain group memberships. On a multicast network, Layer 3 devices connected to network segments of receivers must run the MLD protocol or be configured with static MLD groups. Otherwise, upstream PIM devices cannot know the multicast groups that users want to join, and therefore cannot establish multicast forwarding paths.
- MLD snooping device
A device that listens to MLD messages exchanged between upstream Layer 3 multicast devices and receiver hosts to create and maintain Layer 2 multicast forwarding entries, which are used for accurate multicast data forwarding on a Layer 2 network. To prevent broadcasting of multicast packets on a Layer 2 network and conserve network bandwidth, it is recommended that you configure MLD snooping on Layer 2 devices.
- Receiver
A multicast user that receives multicast data. A receiver can be a PC, a set top box, or any device with multicast client installed.
Licensing Requirements
MLD snooping is a basic feature of a router and is not under license control.
Hardware Requirements
Series |
Feature Support |
|---|---|
AR600&AR1600&AR6100&AR6200&AR6300 Series |
Only AR6140-16G4XG and AR6140H-S supports MLD Snooping. |
Interface card/SRU |
Only SRU-100H, SRU-100HH, SRU-200H, SRU-400HK, SRU-600HK, SRU-400H, and SRU-600H support MLD Snooping. Only the 8FE1GE, 24GE, and 24ES2GP cards support MLD Snooping. |
Feature Limitations
Note the following when configuring MLD snooping on the router:
- Because MLD snooping is a Layer 2 multicast feature, all the MLD snooping configurations on interfaces mentioned in this chapter are performed on Layer 2 physical interfaces, including Eth-Trunk interfaces.